Serious design flaw in High Noon - Ghost Town card

[Rob Roy MacGregor]

The High Noon expansion with Ghost Town active contains a serious design flaw in that it allows the Renegade to come back and take shots at whom he likes before going back to the grave.

It creates the ethical dilemma of, "Whom do I attack?" in the context of a game he has already lost. In playing a card, he is necessarily violating the Code of Ethics by deciding which team, Sheriff or Outlaws, to help to win at no benefit to himself. The only honest play he can make is to play nothing.

One appropriate solution would be to not allow the ghost of the renegade to come back on the play of the Ghost Town card, only the ghosts of any dead outlaws or deputies. I for one will not be playing High Noon until an appropriate solution is implemented.

[kuzestanx]

This "serious design flaw" is intended by the creator of the game. I rate "Ghost Town" as an unsound event not only because of the problem you described. It also forces players not to leave the table until this event occurs, though the impact of ghosts is minimal. That's why this event is not in Arena mode.

In response to "Whom do I attack?". Yes, a renegade-ghost loses in any outcome. You may think that he should not violate The Code of Ethics. But you are mistaken in thinking that a renegade attacks with "no benefit to himself".

BGA has an ELO system, for many it is important. So, you are a renegade-ghost and you will lose ELO, but in different outcomes you will lose different amounts of ELO. Here, it depends on how many people you lose to, and how good their skills were. A player who strives to be the strongest will take this into account. In general, if the table has 6 players, it is more profitable to give the victory to the sheriff. This may sound terrible from the point of view of the game creator and the code of ethics, but this is how BGA works.

I guess your home rule suggestion will not be implemented, as well as https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31001 . But you can play High Noon without the Ghost Town, the site has such an option.

[Rob Roy MacGregor]

Well, a player for whom ELO is so important that they need to point-game for it rather than playing ethically, is a player I won't play with again in the future.